BOOK PUBLISHING SECRETS: HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK!: culinary mystery

Name: Debra H. Goldstein

Book Title: One Taste Too Many

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Kensington

Website: https://DebraHGoldstein.com

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

Author: Before I could read or write, I fell in love with stories listening to those my mother read to me and by attending a children’s storytelling hour at our local library. I began telling my own tales and that evolved into writing short stories and neighborhood skits. By the time I attended college, I was sure I was going to get a degree in journalism and become a globe-trotting journalist. Instead, I graduated with a degree in English and History; went to New York giving myself eight months to obtain two goals – find a job in publishing and become a Jeopardy contestant; goals accomplished, I went to law school and became a litigator and then a federal Administrative Law Judge. During this time, I wrote boring legal briefs, law journal articles, and decisions, but I yearned to write something more fun. For ten years, I played on and off with an idea I had for a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus until a friend challenged me to write it or shut up. She softened her words by graciously offering me a beach condo for a week-end of writing. I came home from that weekend knowing I could do it. One Taste Too Many is the fruition of another idea I had for a series featuring a cook of convenience – someone like me – for whom the kitchen is a fate worse than death.

Is this your first book?

Author: No. My prior books are 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s and Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Player’s Mystery (2016). I also write short stories which have appeared in periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, the Birmingham Arts Journal, Mardi Gras Murder, and The Killer Wore Cranberry. “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,”(AHMM 2017) was an Agatha and Anthony finalist this year.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

Author: One Taste Too Many is the first of the Sarah Blair cozy mystery series being traditionally published by Kensington. Kensington’s books are distributed by Penguin-Random House. Much as I respect people who handle all the details involved with self-publishing, because of my time commitments and limited artistic talents, traditional publishing is a better alternative for me. I’m thrilled to be writing this series for Kensington.

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey? The pros and cons?

Author: My first book, Maze in Blue, was published by a small publisher who requested it after a friend told the owner “There’s a judge with a mystery that I think you should read.” Not knowing anything about publishers, agents, and queries, this was the only place I submitted it and I was thrilled when Maze was accepted. Six months after publication, when I had just won an IPPY Award and had speaking engagements booked for most of the next year, the publisher ceased operations. It graciously returned my rights and encouraged me to reissue it through Amazon’s Create Space to keep it alive. In the meantime, I sold mass market rights to Harlequin.

After being orphaned, agents and editors I spoke with encouraged me to “write something new.” I wrote Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Player’s Mystery. This time, I sent out queries and pitched the book at conferences. At Killer Nashville, a Five Star editor asked to see the book and a week later offered me a contract. The book came out in hardcover, I sold mass market rights to Harlequin, and the publisher announced it was discontinuing its mystery line.

Orphaned twice, I knew to write something new. Drawing on my loathing for the kitchen, I created a character whose fine china is paper plates and whose greatest fear is being asked to cook. When One Taste Too Many was ready, I queried and obtained an agent. She sold One Taste Too Many to Kensington as part of a three book deal for the Sarah Blair cozy mystery series.

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Author: Being orphaned twice taught me that the publishing industry is everchanging and evolving and that survival necessitates flexibility and a willingness to move forward after a limited amount of tears. I also learned how wonderful the people in the mystery community are. Their help and support got me through the rough times.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Author: Because of my limited time and distribution mechanisms, traditional publishing was the best fit for me. I would definitely recommend it to other authors.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Author: Don’t stop believing in yourself and your work in progress, but take classes, network, and do everything you can to improve your writing. Finally, pay it forward.

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About the book:

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty‑eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist job in the tired town she never left. With nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills, she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily—an ambitious chef determined to take her culinary ambitions to the top at a local gourmet restaurant.

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Many-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719476

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-taste-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1128297322

Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/One-Taste-Too-Many/Debra-H-Goldstein/9781496719478

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781496719478

Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/One-Taste-Too-Many/309566204

Hudson Booksellers: https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/book/9781496719478

Name: Leslie Karst

Book Title: A Measure of Murder (book two in the Sally Solari mystery series)

Genre: culinary mystery

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

Leslie: I’d had a vague concept of writing a culinary mystery for many years, but it wasn’t until one day when I was out jogging that the idea for my Sally Solari series came to me all in a rush. Santa Cruz had long been a sleepy beach community, home to Italian fishermen and retirees, but with the advent of the new university in the late 1960s the place had been transformed, and my town was now teeming with hipsters, hippies, and urban professionals. And along with them, the food revolution had descended full-force upon the surprised old-timers. What would happen, I wondered, if a local Santa Cruz gal suddenly found herself caught between the world of her family’s traditional, old-fashioned Italian restaurant, and that of the newly-arrived, politically-correct food activists?

Is this your first book?

Leslie: No. A Measure of Murder is the second of the Sally Solari mysteries. Although all the books in the series focus on food, cooking, and restaurants, there’s a secondary theme to each of the stories: one of the human senses. The first book, Dying for a Taste, concerns (obviously) the sense of taste, and A Measure of Murder delves into the sense of hearing—more specifically, music.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

Leslie: This book—as with the first Sally Solari mystery—is traditionally published by Crooked Lane Books, a crime imprint out of New York City. From the start, I wanted to find a traditional or small press publisher for the series, so that I could focus on writing and promotion, and not also have to deal with the nuts and bolts of designing, formatting, printing, and distributing the books themselves.

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey? The pros and cons?

Leslie: It took over two years to write the first draft of the book, and then another three to re-write it. I was fortunate enough to have some insightful beta readers who critiqued the early version and helped me see where it needed reworking, but even after these revisions the manuscript was still “not quite there,” according to passes I continued to receive from literary agents.

After over eighty rejections I was starting to have serious doubts—about myself as a writer as well as the book—but decided I’d give it one last shot by hiring a developmental editor. I needed someone who could not only help improve the manuscript, but who could also be objective, and let me know if it was worth continuing to send out.

After this rewrite, I started querying agents again, and within a month or so I finally got “that phone call,” from Erin Niumata of Folio Literary Management. She’s a former editor herself, and steered me through further revisions before pitching the book to publishers. It still took another nine months of edits, pitches, and then some further edits, but I ultimately landed a deal with Crooked Lane Books.

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Leslie: Probably the most important lesson I learned was that rejections are the norm in the publishing business. Literary agents receive dozens—if not hundreds—of queries every single day, and most only represent between twenty and thirty authors at a given time. So not only does your book need to be well-written and compelling, but it needs to jump out as special to that particular agent (or acquiring editor). In other words, although getting traditionally published takes an enormous amount of hard work, it also takes a certain amount of luck—for your manuscript to land on that one agent’s desk at the particular time that the agent is looking for something just like your book.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Leslie: I have been very happy with Crooked Lane Books. They not only have terrific editors, who help ensure that my books are as well-crafted as they possibly can be, but they also ensure that the books are distributed through book clubs as well as major book distributors and brick and mortar stores. Crooked Lane also has its own publicists to send the books out for reviews before they’re released. As a result, I get to spend more of my time writing and editing than I would if I were self-published.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Leslie: Never give up and never stop believing in yourself as a writer. As the fabulous developmental editor, Kristen Weber, said to me when I became discouraged after receiving so many passes on the manuscript that ultimately landed me my contract with Crooked Lane Books, “You can get hundreds of rejections, and many writers do. But remember: It only takes one yes.”